6.23.2007

Deanandpa (or Marashi Kathy)




Marashi Kathy Deanandpa Pt 1 & 2 acetate (Duodisc)

As noted below, I pick up random acetates. The problem with them is that many are recorded at 78 rpm and I lack the turntable to play them. Actually, I do have a fancy "audiophile" turntable that plays 78s, however it is a piece of crap, so it is in a box at the bookstore. So until a day ago, I hadn't had the pleasure of hearing many of the acetates that I've gobbled up. Now I am going to go hog wild.

Acetates are a real crap shoot. For many years they were the main medium for home recording, so like the cassette and CDR the format was used to record everything from speeches to sermons to original music to radio broadcasts to records. More often than not the acetates that I find are recordings of records or a song off the radio. Every once in a while I come across a gem like Edna Kantor or something fascinatingly strange such as today's offering, Marashi Kathy's Deanandpa.

Of course, there is no information on Marashi Kathy or Deanandpa. That isn't surprising as this is a one of a kind recording. The lack of info leaves me to guess about this one. On first listen I started with what I now thing is Part 2. I thought it was a kid playing sax. Not so. Flipping it over and Part 1 reveals that this is someone singing, or, as the title suggests, chanting. I don't believe the chanting to be sincere or rather intended as chanting. I think that a parent probably heard their kid singing in a moaning style, thought that it sounded like those crazy "rag heads", recorded it for kicks, and came up with "clever" name for the kid and the song. The name Marashi Kathy suggests a misspelling of Maharishi, the Hindu title for an enlightened one. And perhaps Deanandpa is a bastardization of Dhammapada, one of the central texts of classical Buddhism.

Then again, there is a strong case to be made that the artist is Dean and Pa (though why the long a at the end of pa?) and the title is Marashi Kathy. In that case, we have a duo of vocal improvisers and my theory about this being some kind of mystical spoof is nothing but horseshit.

Whatever the reality, I hope you appreciate the strangeness of today's selection.


(Extra special thanks to Derek Gerry of Hear It Wow for cluing me in on the magic of making 78 rpm acetates play at the right speed via turntable and Audacity. Forgive the quality of the recording. Acetates were low quality to begin with and 50 years of wear does not do them well. Attempts to "clean" the recording up via noise reduction filters just resulted in the selections sounding like tinny crap.)

Comments:
I picked up an old Dual turntable at a garage sale and bought an Ortofon OM78 cartridge for it. I put all my old Recordios on CD with it.
 
I like about everything Crud Crud has to offer, but this really hits a super weird sweet spot. thanks so much! more weird shit!
 
Fantastic and weirdly otherworldly.
 
if you open both mp3s in separate windows, everything gets a little more creepy.
 
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